SA didn’t have the capacity to arrest Putin, says SACP’s Solly Mapaila

Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s agreement with President Cyril Ramaphosa to give the Brics summit a miss is not an act of “cowardice.” Instead, Putin has shown the highest level of statesmanship despite provocation from the West, SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila says. 

Mapaila was reacting to news that Putin will no longer be travelling to South Africa to attend the 15th Brics summit next month.

“While one decries the decision by President Putin not to come, we also appreciate his consideration. It was not an act of cowardice. We do know that they are not even on the same level as those European countries. Russia can finish them off but we don’t want a nuclear war despite their provocations.” 

Mapaila was speaking on the sidelines of the Brics Political Parties Plus dialogue in Boksburg on Wednesday after the Presidency announced that Putin will instead be represented by his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, at the summit.

There has been mixed reaction to the news, with many commending the government’s decision to avoid another embarrassment similar to when the government defied an International Criminal Court decision in 2015 by not arresting Omar Al Bashir.

“We appreciate the consideration by the Russian Federation on this difficult situation that South Africa faces in the context of being in the crosshairs of imperialism.

“The actions that the Russians, particularly President Putin, have taken have demonstrated understanding and show the highest level of statesmanship,” Mapaila said.

Mapaila said South Africa did not have the capacity to arrest Putin. 

“It’s not a question of semantics, Russia is a big world country. Who can touch such a country? From a military, intellectual and scientific development, they are at the same level as the US. The US, of course, is ganging up with its European partners to weaken Russia so that at a point when Russia is extremely weak, they can come in.

“Do you think that we can just go blindly to declare war on Russia? It’s crazy. (We don’t) have a single military capacity, just from a perspective of defence, let’s be serious.”

South Africa must use this as a lesson to reflect on its “own instruments of development”, he said.

Mapaila expressed concern at the risk of financial sanctions should countries not toe the line of the West.

“I will speculate because I have not yet even got a briefing from the president about this matter but I did know that essentially South Africa was going to give in at a particular point in time.

“The point is we are going to suffer more. The Europeans today are pulling out more sanctions. We have ministers who are planning sanctions every day against countries that they do not agree with, like Venezuela, Cuba, Russia and China. 

“They are going to impose financial sanctions against all of us and we will not be able to transact because they are going to tell the banks not to allow us to use their services.

“ We are at the crossroads of a consolidation of a world unipolar system hegemonised by the EU and the American government with one prescribed path of development (capitalist system).”

On the other hand, he said there was a possibility of a multipolar system with multiple social economic systems that countries could choose for themselves. “The man at the helm and [who] has that handle is President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation.”

Mapaila said his comments should not be misconstrued as the SACP taking a side on the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Meanwhile Cosatu’s Matthew Parks said the union welcomed the engagements with Russia to resolve “a very complicated and sensitive matter”. 

“The federation supports efforts to enhance South Africa's hard-won non-aligned status and its belief in negotiations to resolve often intractable conflicts at home and abroad. We look forward to the Brics summit, including the Brics Trade Union Forum that will be held here,” he said.

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